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About Me

I am a Ph.D. student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. I study the History of Biblical Interpretation, which includes Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. My interests are religion, politics, TV, movies, and reading.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Phyllis Schlafly

Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly has passed on at the age of
92. In this post, I will share my interactions with her thought
throughout the course of my life, as well as some links.

When did I first hear of Phyllis Schlafly? Well, her name was mentioned in David Stockman’s The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed,
and I read that book in the sixth grade. Stockman was saying that he
wanted to distance the Reagan Revolution from the religious right so it
would focus instead on economic issues, and Schlafly was one of the
names that he mentioned. But her name did not mean anything to me at
the time, so it did not stand out to me.

It may have been in sixth grade or in junior high school that her
name came to mean more to me. I liked to read right-wing conspiracy
literature at the time, John Birch Society sort of stuff. A relative of
mine had a few of Schlafly’s books. I borrowed and read her 1964
classic, A Choice Not an Echo. The book endorsed conservative
Senator Barry Goldwater for President, while criticizing the role of
one-worlder wealthy “kingmakers” in selecting Republican Presidential
candidates.

I came across her name after that. Opposing Viewpoints was a
series of books that featured “both sides” of controversial questions,
and excerpts from Schlafly’s writings were often used as a
representative of the “conservative” side. Schlafly weighed in on
military issues, advocating American military superiority over the
Soviet Union, as well as social and cultural issues, such as sex
education.

In high school, I wrote to her Eagle Forum organization a couple of
times, requesting information on such topics as sex education and Global
Education, and her group sent me information packets on these issues.
It also sent me a catalog, which advertised her books, back issues of
The Phyllis Schlafly Report, and a biography of her by Carol Felsenthal,
a feminist critic of Schlafly who decided to spend time with her and
write a biography. I ordered some of these things; nowadays, I’d use
Amazon for that, but I don’t think Amazon existed back then! I took my
ring-bound issues of the Phyllis Schlafly Report with me to the beach,
and I really enjoyed Carol Felsenthal’s biography.

I was on Eagle Forum’s mailing list, and I got a letter saying that
Phyllis Schlafly would be speaking at Indiana State University on a
particular date. ISU was in the town next over, and my Dad and I went
to hear her speak. She did a good job answering hostile questions from
the liberal professors and students. I wish I had asked her a question,
though: How would conservatives reconcile their support for work
requirements for mothers receiving welfare, with their belief that women
should, if possible, stay at home and take care of their children?
I’ve learned since then that different conservatives believe different
things about this, but I was unaware of that at the time.

Her name came up more than once in college. A professor told me that
she moderated a debate on the Equal Rights Amendment on the campus a
while back, and that Schlafly spoke at that. She said that Schlafly was
a respectful person, even though they disagreed on the ERA. In 1996,
someone forwarded me an article by Schlafly that was critical of free
trade. I was supporting the protectionist Pat Buchanan at the time,
and, with all of the conservatives who supported NAFTA and GATT, I was
happy that my conservative heroine agreed with Pat on this.

Years later, in the 2000s, I listened to her on C-Span, taking calls, and those two-or-so hours went by quickly!

In 2010, I was questioning my conservatism. I think it was that year
that I started voting for more Democrats! But I decided to read a book
of hers that I had long wanted to read but never could find. And, now
that Amazon existed, I could do that! It was Schlafly’s The Power of the Positive Woman. I read and blogged about that book, and also Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique.
One question that I had in reading Schlafly’s book is whether she truly
believed that women should stay at home rather than going to work. I
learned that her position was much more complex than that.

After that, I followed her sporadically, but her views did not
interest me as much, anymore. I was in a different place. I read her
very last column this morning, and it just did not resonate with me!
There are areas in which her version of conservatism has impacted me,
even until today, when I am more of a progressive. Her support for
national sovereignty and her criticism of free trade are such areas.
Plus, maybe she was right that phonics was the best way to teach kids to
read: it worked for me when I was a kid! And, while A Choice Not An Echo
may have been simplistic, its insight that wealthy people have a lot of
influence over the political process remains a valid insight, though I
would take it beyond saying that there is a liberal conspiracy. But
social conservatism and building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico are
alien from where I currently am ideologically.

In terms of why I liked her, part of it was her conservatism, but
there were other reasons as well. She was tough. She was unafraid to
question what was considered to be conventional wisdom. She was
intelligent. She could take on the intelligentsia in debates and do
well. When she was criticized by a politician for speaking about the
ERA without a law degree, she went on to get a law degree! She had a
rebel attitude, and that resonated with me in high school and in
college.

Ann Coulter’s tribute.
This is longer than Ann Coulter’s columns usually are, and it was a
rather comprehensive account of Schlafly’s life and accomplishments. I
actually have that 800-or-so page book on Kissinger that Coulter
mentions, but I have not yet read it! Coutler also says that Schlafly
had the opportunity to go to Harvard Law School, before it even admitted
women, but Schlafly did not go.

The New York Times obituary.
Overall, I found this to be a balanced piece. What particularly
intrigued me was some of Schlafly’s ideological shifts. She was more of
a moderate when she was in college, and she initially thought that the
ERA was harmless.

Here are links to the posts that I wrote when blogging through Schlafly Power of a Positive Woman.
I have grown since then, so please do not be too hard on me! But these
posts do reflect a sincere wrestling with Schlafly’s thought: